1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for use in oral hygiene, and particularly to an oral lavage apparatus for delivering liquids to the mouth of an individual under controlled conditions for use in the prevention of oral disease during orthodontic care and to aid in the prevention of and in the treatment of periodontal disease.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
The soft tissues of the mouth are susceptible to pathologies associated with improper oral hygiene in conjunction with infection and the inflammatory processes. Patients in or near these states are in need of regular care of these tissues beyond simple brushing.
Devices have been developed which deliver water and other liquids to the mouth. The devices are designed so that liquid is delivered to the mouth in pressurized streams or pulses. It is particularly advantageous if the streams or pulses can be easily controlled by the patients. For example, many devices presently in commercial use require external means such as electricity to power the device. When using such a device, the patient is limited to work in an area which has electric current located nearby. This may be particularly troublesome if the device is to be used in a school locker room or at an outdoor job site, for example. Accordingly, such electrical devices cannot be considered truly portable.
Although portability is a desirable feature of the user's or patient's device, the device must accommodate enough liquid so that the patient can continuously use it without having to stop to refill the device with the treating liquid.
Although several prior art apparatus have been constructed to meet some of the above described criteria, none have been developed or suggested which can meet all of these criteria.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,660,870 to Fust discloses a mouth mirror which is equipped with a nozzle for ejecting a suitable fluid containing medical substances while boring a tooth. Liquid is delivered to the mirror itself through tubing which is connected to a glass container which holds the liquid. To eject fluid through the mirror, a bulb syringe which is also connected to the reservoir is compressed to force liquid from the reservoir through the tubing into and out of the mirror. The device is deficient in that it is extremely bulky, and the dentist cannot accurately control the streams or pulses due to the bulb actuated syringe.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,795 to Hutchinson et al discloses a hand-operated pulsating cleaning device. The device takes the form of a pistol type apparatus, having a pump which is connected to a finger actuated trigger to create the pulses emanating from the device. The reservoir for holding the liquid to be distributed and the discharge nozzle are incorporated into a single structure. Although the Hutchinson et al device is portable, the amount of liquid which may be distributed through the nozzle is limited by the size of the reservoir. Accordingly, to accommodate a sufficient amount of liquid, such as 16 oz., for example, the device would have to be very large and therefore lose its portability feature.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,645 to Samiran et al discloses a dental hygiene device. In FIG. 10 of Samiran it is shown that liquid to be used in treating a tooth may be provided in an external reservoir which is connected to a device which discharges the liquid. The device is operated by squeezing a manually operable bulb which is connected to both the device and the reservoir. As is the case with the Fust Patent, the Samiran et al invention is not portable, and the streams of jets of liquid cannot be easily controlled due to the bulb type actuation.
Thus, a need exists for an oral lavage apparatus which can deliver pulses of liquid to a patient's mouth, can be easily actuated by the operator, is portable, and can accommodate an adequate amount of liquid to be distributed.